Page:The Melanesians Studies in their Anthropology and Folklore.djvu/57

] families is a third relation equally felt and expressed in words. The terms therefore in which the various degrees of relationship are conveyed fall into three classes; the first of the kinship through the mother, the second of the family generally on father's and mother's side, the third those following on marriage.

A complete view of the system of relationship with the terms that express it, in any one native field in Melanesia, cannot indeed be taken to shew what everywhere prevails, but as giving a representative example is very valuable; the Mota system, which may well stand for that of the Banks' group, can perhaps be shewn completely and exactly.

(1) It has been said that all the members of each of the two exogamous divisions of the people are sogoi, that is of kin, to one another; the only other relation belonging to this kinship is that between the maternal uncle and his sister's children, male and female, expressed in the terms maraui and vanangoi. The uncle is maraui to his sister's child, the nephew or niece is vanangoi to the mother's brother; but the nephew is also called maraui to his uncle. The relation passes on to the second generation; the children of a man's sister's daughters are his vanangoi, they are still of his kin; but his sister's son's children are of the other veve, the special tie of kindred is broken; they are called his children, being brought up to stand in the same generation with their parents. A man's sister's child, his vanangoi, stands as if in the same generation with himself.

(2) Putting aside connexion by marriage, and the special relation of the maraui and vanangoi, which follows upon the passing of kindred through the mother, relationship generally can be arranged in four successive stages of generation; the grandparents, the parents, the children, the grandchildren. Take the present generation, tarangiu, of young married men and women; they are brothers and sisters; the generation above them are their fathers and mothers; the generation below them are their children; the generation below that will be their grandchildren, to whom again all who come before their